Lewis Hamilton has been penalised for making more than one change of direction while defending his position.
Hamilton and Alonso were called to see the stewards after the race.
Lewis has received a 20 sec penalty – the equivalent of a drive through issued post race.
The effect is to drop him one place behind Kamui Kobayashi, who now claims seventh place.
Meanwhile Alonso got a 20s penalty of his own for causing a collision. It would have dropped him behind Lewis, but because Hamilton has his own penalty, it makes no difference!
Adam Cooper F1 
So if i understand: Lewis get a penalty for more then one change of direction which, following the stewards, caused the accident. Why on earth is Alonso getting a penalty then in this case?
I don’t get the criticism of this decision. People say that the DRS will lead to crashes like Webber’s at Valencia, and yet don’t like it when the stewards try to penalise the driving that leads to these sort of accidents (moving on a straight, and only darting out from behind at the very last second).
both penalties seem fair to me. however, who comes up with the arbitrary time penalties? some weeks it’s 20s, others it’s 25s? i think there should be a standard time penalty so that it doesn’t seem like it’s favoring one team/driver over another from week to week.
According to article 16.3 of the Sporting Regulations, if the stewards decide to impose a penalty during the last five laps or after the race has ended, 20 seconds are added if they would otherwise have handed down a drive-through penalty, or 30 seconds if they would otherwise have handed down a 10-second pit penalty (i.e. the driver stopping at his pit for 10 seconds).
One could then, possibly, take different pit lane lengths into account, because practically, on some circuits a drive-through may take more time than on others. Basically, the rules seem clear, though.
As the penalty was for more than one change of direction while defending, can anyone explain why Vettel wasn’t penalised?
I’m just watching the replay of the HAM ALO incident. I can’t see HAM have to have done anything wrong, even Coulthard and Brundle were singling his defensive-driving skill praises. Did we miss the double move incident when the camera focused on the dying virgin car? Otherwise, if it was for a move screened earlier, I can’t see how different it was to when anyone else was battling for position this race… Id like to see footage of the precise incident and I’d also like to know why Vettel’s run into the first corner wasn’t taken up by the stewards – although the boy had an amazing race – rules must be consistent otherwise fans will start to turn away. Let’s hope these post-race rulings are kept to a minimum this year as otherwise the early a.m. wake-up becomes utterly pointless.
Pretty harsh on them both, I think.
I will have to watch the footage again to make my mind up about the Hamilton one, but I remember clearly the Alonso incident. The only person disadvantaged by that was Alonso himself. Yes the stewards should crack down on people making silly lunges up the inside, yes, but Alonso’s was an ‘honest’ racing mistake that cost only him. Why penalise him further?
Honest? Alonso? dont make me laugh.
Hamilton’s diffuser was damaged.
I believe the time penalty is what is assessed in lieu of a drive-through penalty. Lewis recieved his penalty for breeching Article 20.2 of the Sporting Regulations – which states that ‘manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one change of direction to defend a position…are not permitted.” The stewards are being a bit more particular about this one than last year.
Alonso was penalized for breech of Article 16.1 of the Sporting Regulation which punishes drivers who cause a collision.
Well it was the second race of the season. I’m now very keen to see how consistent race stewards will actually be over the course of the year. Lets just hope that the championship isn’t tainted again with the bias of the stewards.